With the help of Jim Tennant of The Tennant Group and Michael Meyer of Rate-Highway Inc., we are conducting rate surveys on a weekly basis and providing analysis and comments where appropriate. We publish this monthly recap in our electronic edition and more comprehensive looks in the print editions.

July 2014 rate quotes were up dramatically from the previous July, but that was caused by industry-wide fleet shortages due to recalls. Rates have been down every month but two since then, but rates turned up slightly in April and continued the trend with a $3.79 increase in May.

This is the first back-to-back increase since that July 2014 situation and bodes well for the summer.

The Northeast and Northwest averages were $62.08 and $61.15, respectively, and the other regions ranged between $44.40 and $48.07. Over the last 52 weeks, Denver had the highest average quote at $66.82 while San Diego had the lowest rate at $34.17.

There has been movement in the relationship between the three top airport brands’ (Hertz, Avis, and National) average quotes and the other five brands. In the November through March period, the spread averaged $24.62, but in April and May, the quotes moved back to a more traditional spread of under $20.